3 September 2010, 7:37 am
Soon the Washington Nationals will probably be the eighth team in baseball to be officially taken out of 2010 playoff contention (their "elimination number" is 10). They currently have the worst record in the National League East with 57-77 (.425). The Washington Nationals are historically a poor team. Since starting in 1969, the franchise has a losing record of 3,155 wins and 3,486 losses. The team has made it to the playoffs just once (as the Montreal Expos in 1981), though some contend that they would have won the National League Pennant and perhaps the World Series in 1994, had the season not been shortened by a strike. When the franchise moved to Washington in 2005 they pulled a .500 average, but since then have had a losing record every season (last year they were the worst in MLB). Let's look at the facts about this year: First game of season: Beaten by the Philadelphia Phillies 1-11 in Washington (Worst Loss of Season, April 5) Best Victory of season: Defeated the Astros in Houston 14-4 (May 31) DEBUT: On June 8, Stephen Strasburg debuted against the Pittsburgh Pirates, striking out 14 in 7 innings and helping the Nationals win 5-2 (ERA for game was 2.57) Longest Slump of season: Lost 12 of 15 consecutive interleague games to the Indians, Tigers, White Sox, Royals and Orioles (June 11-27) TRADES: - The Washington Nationals traded RP Matt Capps (3.43 ERA) to the Minnesota Twins for C Wilson Ramos (.258) & minor league pitcher Joe Testa -The Washington Nationals traded IF Cristian Guzman (.271) to the Texas Rangers for two minor leaguers SEASON STATS: So far the Nationals have won 6 games and lost 6 games against the Atlanta Braves The Nationals lost 10 of 15 games to the Florida Marlins The Nationals won 7 of 12 games against the New York Mets The Nationals lost 7 of 12 games to the Philadelphia Phillies Best Nationals batting average: 3B Ryan Zimmerman (.298 average) Most Nationals home runs: 1B Adam Dunn (33 home runs, 2nd most in National League) Most Nationals RBI: 1B Adam Dunn (88 RBI, 4th most in National League) Most Nationals wins: SP Livan Hernandez (9 wins, 9 losses) Best Nationals ERA: SP Livan Hernandez (3.49) Most Nationals saves: RP Drew Storen (3 saves)* * (Not counting former Nationals RP Matt Capps [26 saves]) Washington Nationals team batting average = .256 Washington Nationals team ERA: 4.22 Washington Nationals team fielding percentage = .980 (3rd worst in MLB) What are your thoughts on the Washington Nationals? What do you have to say about the trades, about the season, the players, the management, next year, etc? http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSN/ http://mlb.mlb.com/schedule/sortable.jsp?c_id=was http://espn.go.com/mlb/statistics... Read More »
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